Oakland County Sheriff's Office not extending Flock drone pilot program
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office says it will not pursue a contract with Flock for its drone pilot program as the department nears the end of its nine-month commitment to the technology.
The sheriff's office did not explain why it was not pursuing a contract but said the decision was made after "completing our evaluation."
"The purpose of these evaluation trials was driven by the fact that our current platform is aging and we can no longer acquire them," said spokesperson Deputy Tyler Sweers. "As we work to replace our aging drone fleet, we will continue evaluating other platforms."
County commissioners in April approved the sheriff's office's temporary use of "Project Prove It" to respond to emergencies, drawing criticism from residents over privacy concerns. The pilot program was free for nine months, but if it had been extended, it would have cost about $2.5 million over two years.
In April, Sheriff Michael Bouchard told CBS Detroit that use of drones in the past has helped the sheriff's office find kids who were lost, Alzheimer's patients, and has even captured a murder suspect. Bouchard also said the equipment previously used by the sheriff's office was banned by the federal government, prompting the office to search for a new company.
"We understand the privacy concerns people talk about, but we've already addressed all those. You can go to our webpage right now and look at every DFR (drones as first responders) flight we've flown, where it went, how it came back, what the call was for," Bouchard said at the time.
Flock has become a controversy in Michigan, with several communities in Oakland County choosing not to renew contracts, including Milford and Madison Heights. At the federal level, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib introduced the "Get the Flock Out of Our Communities Act," legislation to prohibit the use of federal funds to support the technology.
